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Translation: New
Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Genera Editor: Michael D. Coogan
Associate Editors: Marc Z. Brettler, Carol A. Newsom and Pheme
Perkins
ISBN: 0195284801
Format: Hardcover
Concordance: 64 Pages
Pages: 1796
Size:6-9/16 x 9 x 2-1/8"
Font Size: 10 (notes are 8-9)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Synopsis:
For decades, students, professors and general readers have relied
upon The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha for
essential scholarship and guidance to the world of the Bible. Now
a new editorial board and contributors have completely updated
this classic work for a new generation of scholars and readers.
the result is a volume which maintains and extends the excellence
the Annotated's users have come to expect, bringing new insights,
new information, and new approaches to bear upon the understanding
of the text of the Bible.
What's New about the Scholarship in the "New"
Annotated?
This third edition of the classic New Oxford Annotated Bible
represents not only a revision of a classic textbook and biblical
reference work for the general reader, but nearly an entirely new
book. In planning for the third edition, the Oxford University
Press staff saw the need to update the introductions, annotations,
and essays to bring in a new generation of scholars, with new
insights and interpretations, to augment the classic
"Annotated" bottom-of-the-page commentary.
The new editorial team of Professors Michael Coogan, Carol Newsom,
Marc Brettler, and Pheme Perkins made every effort to broaden and
deepen the scholarly reach of the new edition. More Catholic
scholars, a new group of Jewish scholars, more women, and scholars
from a wider diversity of backgrounds (African-American, Latino,
and Asian-American), joned the distinguished roster of
contributors. The variety of interpretations, liberal and
conservative, was increased. The space for annotations and book
introductions was expanded to allow for more contextual readings
and a wider range of interpretive styles.
Contributors were encouraged to use not only historical
approaches, but literary, sociological, theological, and canonical
ones as well, to bring out the full meaning of the text and how
that meaning has been seen over time. Parallels to ancient Near
Eastern literature are cited in the notes, as well as rabbinic
interpretations, early Christian ideas, and modern and post-modern
interpretations.
The essays in the back of the volume are completely new, and in
effect offer a "short course" in the interpretation of
the Bible: From the establishment of the contents (canon) of the
Bible itself, the determination of the text to be translated, and
the choice of translation method, through the history of
interpretation in the Jewish and Christian communities, up to the
era of modern critical reading, the essays give the reader an
overview of twenty-five centuries of human engagement with this
central text. The backgrounds of the biblical writings - ancient
Near Eastern, Persian and Hellenistic, and Roman - are carefully
explained, as is the geographical setting of the events in
biblical history.
The result of this effort is an unmatched resource for
understanding the biblical text, including those areas in which
traditional interpretation or translation might have been
misleading in the past. These new interpretations are in the
Annotated because they represent scholarly understandings of the
text, or of the history of interpretation, that are accepted in
academic research today.
There has been a focus in certain circles of Christian comment on
these changes from traditional understanding. It is important to
recognize that Oxford University Press is not aiming at
influencing any current social or political trends, whether within
secular society or within any church or denomination. The
annotators and authors of the essays were given general
instructions to guide them in writing their study materials, but
except for specific indications of the length of their
submissions, and the format in which they were to be submitted,
they were left free to determine what they would comment on and
how those comments would be shaped. The editorial board and Oxford
staff reviewed every submission, and suggested numerous changes,
but every revised version went back to the original author for
acceptance or adjustment of the changes. No contributor was made
to say anything with which he or she disagreed. It would have been
impossible for one editor to impose a personal view or agenda on
this process, and no editor attempted to do so. The views
expressed in any of the annotations are the scholar's own, as that
scholar understands the research of colleagues on the particular
book of the Bible being commented on.
Improved Features summary:
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Wholly revised,
and with greatly expanded book introductions and annotations.
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Annotations in
a single column across the page bottom, paragraphed according
to their boldface topical headings.
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In-text
background essays on the major divisions of the biblical text.
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More in-depth
treatment of the varieties of biblical criticism.
-
New Essays on
the history of the formation of the biblical canon for Jews
and various Christian churches.
-
More detailed
explanations of the historical background of the text help the
Bible stand out from its ancient Near Eastern context.
-
Timeline of
major events in the ancient Near East.
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A brief history
of biblical interpretation, from biblical times to the
present.
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A full index to
all the study materials, keyed to all the study materials,
keyed to page numbers.
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14
authoritative, full color double page New Oxford Bible Maps
(with place name index); approximately 40 in-text line drawing
maps and diagrams.
About the NRSV :
The NRSV first appeared in 1989 and has received the widest
acclaim and broadest support from academics and church leaders of
any modern English translation. It is the only Bible translation
that is as widely ecumenical:
The ecumenical NRSV Bible Translation Committee consists of thirty
men and women who are among the top scholars in America today.
They come from Protestant denominations, the Roman Catholic
church, and the Greek Orthodox Church. The committee also includes
a Jewish scholar.
The RSV was the only major translation in English that included
both the standard Protestant canon and the books that are
traditionally used by Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians (the
so-called "Apocryphal" or "Deuterocanonical"
books). Standing in this tradition, the NRSV is available in three
ecumenical formats: a standard edition with or without the
Apocrypha, a Roman Catholic Edition, which has the so-called
"Apocryphal" or "Deuterocanonical" books in
the Roman Catholic canonical order, and The Common Bible, which
includes all books that belong to the Protestant, Roman Catholic,
and Orthodox canons.
The NRSV stands out among the many translations available today as
the Bible translation that is the most widely
"authorized" by the churches. It received the
endorsement of thirty-three Protestant churches. It received the
imprimatur of the American and Canadian Conferences of Catholic
bishops. And it received the blessing of a leader of the Greek
Orthodox Church.
The NRSV is truly a Bible for all Christians!
Rooted in the past, but right for today, the NRSV continues the
tradition of William Tyndale, the King James Version, the American
Standard Version, and the Revised Standard Version. Equally
important, it sets a new standard for the 21st Century. The NRSV
stands out among the many translations because it is "as
literal as possible" in adhering to the ancient texts and
only "as free as necessary" to make the meaning clear in
graceful, understandable English. It draws on newly available
sources that increase our understanding of many previously obscure
biblical passages. These sources include new-found manuscripts,
the Dead Sea Scrolls, other texts, inscriptions, and
archaeological finds from the ancient Near East, and new
understandings of Greek and Hebrew grammar.
Improvements over the RSV are of four different kinds:
updating the language of the RSV, by replacing archaic forms of
speech addressed to God (Thee, Thou, wast, dost, etc.), and by
replacing words whose meaning has changed significantly since the
RSV translation (for example, Paul's statement in 2 Corinthians
11.25 that he was "stoned" once)
making the translation more accurate,
helping it to be more easily understood, especially when it is
read out loud, and
making it clear where the original texts intend to include all
humans, male and female, and where they intend to refer only to
the male or female gender.
If accuracy and clarity are important to you, the New Revised
Standard Version should be your next Bible! |